My wife and I recently became fans of the popular TV show, Undercover Boss. For those who haven’t seen it, the basic idea is that the owners or CEO’s of successful companies disguise themselves and go to work as entry level employees in one of their businesses. They lay aside their title, their rights, and their privileges to become like one of the little people, to experience the difficulties and challenges of work in the trenches. Often for the first time, they get a good glimpse of life at the bottom. And along the way something inevitably happens on the inside of these bosses. Their hearts are softened. Sympathy and compassion arise for the difficult, daily grind of their faithful employees.
The climax of each episode comes toward the end when the boss removes his disguise and reveals his true identity to one of the previously taken for granted workers. He then expresses his appreciation and promises to reward them for all their hard work going forward. I’ve seen many bosses–with tenderness in their voice and tears in their eyes–saying that they are determined to take better care of them by giving them a promotion, or a big fat raise, or a huge scholarship for college, or something along those lines. And how does the unsuspecting employee respond? As you would imagine, they are usually overwhelmed with excitement and joy. They pour praise and thanks upon their boss for his extreme kindness and generosity. It is always a powerful and moving scene!
I believe this is yet another echo of the Gospel, if we have ears to hear it. It ultimately points us to Jesus, if we have eyes to see Him. A show like this strikes a chord in the hearts of all of us who realize that deep down there is something intrinsically beautiful about the humility, sacrificial love, and compassion of a leader. It reminds us of what God is like and what He did in sending His Son to earth.
In Matthew 1, we are told that God sent His Son to be Immanuel, “God with us.” (v. 23). He was born into a lowly family. Joseph and Mary were simple, poor folks, not high society. They were from the obscure, blue-collar town of Nazareth. But nevertheless, Jesus, the Creator and King of kings came into their lives like an Undercover God. He humbled Himself and clothed Himself in frail humanity, and He did so in order to sympathize with all their weaknesses and temptations. He came to be touched with their infirmities and to suffer with them, and for them. And in the end, He would go to the cross to “save His people from their sins” (v. 21).
Now, as much as the show, Undercover Boss, is in many ways a good analogy of the Gospel, there is at least one important way in which it is not. There is one huge difference! In every episode, the undercover boss awards a diligent and responsible employee, an overachiever. They are the ones who get the big time benefits. Never is a bad employee rewarded; never is a lazy, non-productive person given a raise or a promotion. No, on the contrary, the underachievers are always punished.
On one recent episode, there was a man caught doing a terrible job. He was a restaurant employee with a horrible attitude. He regularly whined and complained about the customers behind their backs. He cursed at his co-workers. He was indolent and unproductive. Guess what happened to him? He got canned! There is a scene toward the end of the show where the boss takes him out to the parking lot to talk with him. She reveals who she is, and then she swiftly fires him! It makes sense, right? That is, after all, what the guy earned with his poor performance.
Now, imagine another scenario. Imagine if upon discovering just such a bad employee, the boss actually still gave him a promotion and a raise. Better yet, imagine if the boss happily did all the work for him and then rewarded him. That would be crazy, huh? Yes, that would be crazy! That would be grace! And that would be more like what we have with the Gospel.
The fact of the matter is, Jesus came as the undercover, incarnate God to live and die in our place because we were all doing a horrible job down here. We weren’t following the policies and procedures of the work place, so to speak. We weren’t keeping God’s law, by loving Him and loving others (Matt 22:36-40). It’s not that we weren’t working hard or achieving things down here at all. We’ve all managed to accomplish some things. We’ve even done some things well. But when it comes to the most important things—the spiritual things—we’re all blowing it!
So, Jesus came to save us. He came as the undercover God to live and die in our place and then to bless us with the benefits He earned. He came to give us eternal life and everything that goes with it, including full joy and peace in Him. And it’s all for free. It cost Him everything, but it costs us nothing. It’s not something we work for, or else it would be considered a wage (Rom 4:4). It would be like God paying us for our productivity. But, that is not the way it goes. It is God paying us for His productivity. It is grace!
In reality, the only thing any of us are earning down here is death. That is the payoff of sin. But, instead, because of Jesus we get eternal life. Paul sums it up in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Jesus is our Undercover God. He came to our level to sympathize with all our weaknesses and temptations, and yet He responded with perfect obedience. He did all the work for us. He loved His Father and others flawlessly in our place, and then He died in our place so that we might be forgiven and blessed.
When Jesus pulls the blinders from our eyes and reveals Himself to us, we don’t just get a little promotion or a some extra money for college, but the infinite treasure of eternal life with Him!